Chapter 109.1: Street Parade, This Kind of Jing Wan

In ancient times, the street parade of the top three candidates in the imperial exam was a grand occasion. Despite living in this time and space for more than ten years, Jing Wan still just resided in the state of ‘only having heard the rumors’. Encountering this kind of exciting thing in her first year of entering the capital, she naturally needed to see.

Speaking of this imperial exam, the three of the first class, first, second, and third place, there were only one of each, and moreover, only one every three years. Unlike in her past life, that college exam of one’s lifetime, with a ‘zhuang yuan[1]‘ (top scorer) here and a ‘zhuang yuan’ there, practically in the masses. ‘Eyes of Notice’, ‘Flower Snatcher’, what’s that? Simply never heard of before, and moreover, there were ‘top scorers’ every year. Alright, she had to admit, they were also very impressive, but in comparison, this imperial exam’s difficulty is much higher, right? All the imperial exam candidates in the entire country, ones from a few years ago, ones from ten some ago, or even ones from decades ago, all gathering together, now that was truly a myriad of soldiers fighting to cross the single-log bridge!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

As for specifically what it was like, Jing Wan hadn’t personally experience before either, so she couldn’t evaluate. Right now, she was just amusing herself from the sidelines.

Jing Wan and them, regardless of what, were all from a Head Minister’s Manor. Her brothers had already booked a restaurant that was in a pretty good spot.

In any case, at this time, on the two sides of the street, regardless of the business, don’t bother thinking about making money, going together to watch the parade was the most important right now. And for the restaurants and teahouses that were in a favorable position, places like the private rooms and such were further long booked full by the various high official and noble families. Of course, they rather can use this opportunity to make a profit. After all, aside from the private rooms, where it wasn’t convenient for them to increase the price for the noble personages, wasn’t there still the great hall below? At this time, even if the price was a bit expensive, no one would haggle over the price either.

Even those jewelry shops, rouge and cosmetic pavilions (usu. two-storied), or satin shops, as long as it was a building with a second or third floor, for the most part, were also all occupied by people. Of course, these places still mostly attach importance to women that had status and position, because when they leave, they will probably also take away quite a few things that’ll make the shopkeeper unable to conceal their happiness.

During the waiting process, with nothing to do, they just ate a little, drank a bit of tea, and leisurely chatted.

Because of a special reason, the place was only this big, but there were just too many people coming to see the excitement, so it was inevitable for them to have to share the place with someone else. For instance, in this private room that belonged to the Luo family, there were also quite a few members of the younger generation from families that were friends or relatives with the Luo family. Fortunately between relatives, one would still occasionally meet once in a while, and with this many people, the etiquette between male and female, one really didn’t need to particularly mind either. Even so, between the males and females, for the most part, there was still a distinct separation like the rivers of Jing and Wei.

Have to say, among these people, there really weren’t many that Jing Wan recognized. Speaking of which, after entering the capital, the time she has spent interacting with the people outside have also increased, and has also made even more friends. Afterwards, gradually, she also understood the reason. It was still nothing more than the problem of status. Don’t look at how compared with people like Sun Yi Jia, Jing Wan’s status was low, compared to these people, her status was still much higher. Even if their fathers’ official position was more or less the same, she still had a first rank high official for a grandfather and was further cupped in the palm of her grandmother’s hand. These were all things that raised her social status. To say she was the Head Minister Luo Manor’s most esteemed young miss wasn’t overboard in the least.

Normally, from time to time, people came to visit the Luo family, but very rarely would there be people of high enough status for Luo Old Madam to personally receive them. Wang-shi receiving them was already more than enough, and for those that were able to have the chance to meet with Luo Old Madam, just paying their respects to her was already pretty good. And for Jing Wan, after entering the capital, she for the most part didn’t have any spare time, thus Luo Old Madam didn’t have Jing Wan come out to entertain those young ladies either.

Have to say, right now, Jing Wan’s reputation throughout capital was very resounding. To say she was equally famous as Sun Yi Jia and Ruan Fang Fei, or even surpassed the two was all possible. However, her limelight belonged to the temporary kind. If time goes on and she doesn’t do anything else that’ll attract people’s attention, then most likely, she will gradually be forgotten, unlike those two, whose reputation was accumulated over many years through their own talent and learning.

However, these above cases were more than enough, more than enough for these young ladies to come curry favor with her.

Majority of young ladies actually all don’t have any bad intentions. At most it was just wanting to borrow their friendship with you to raise their own social status. These were all very normal things. As long as they weren’t overly deliberate, acting too lowly, or harbored bad intentions, Jing Wan for the most part, all very peacefully chatted with them. If she can encounter one that she is able to get along with, she didn’t mind having an extra ‘little sister’ either. Of course, after one round, Jing Wan just felt she’d thought too much. They were different from her after all. At least in terms of thinking, they weren’t able to be open-minded, with their view on status too heavy. When speaking with her, they always carried an ulterior motive, and then afterwards, were all very cautious and solemn. Even if she didn’t disdain them for being ‘naive’, there still wasn’t the slightest possibility of becoming friends.

Following the faint sound of gongs and drums, the crowd finally started getting worked up, “It’s coming, it’s coming.” Everyone all knew, the people they were waiting for finally appeared.

The Luo family’s relatively older few brothers were all present. Although for them, it wasn’t any of their first time seeing this kind of scene, but when their younger sisters go out, it was their duty to protect and escort them.

Because the young ladies were all too excited, they all crowded towards the windows. Jing Wan lightly frowned. It was best for her to retreat a little. However, because she was positioned near the windows to begin with, this while, wanting to move away really was quite difficult. To her side, a hand stretched over, grabbing her arm and pulling her in that direction. Jing Wan lifted her head, seeing it was her own older brother. Smiling, she just followed along the direction of the force and walked over. Because he was a man after all, the other young ladies, who even if from the start to end were just staring at him blushing, unwilling to avert their eyes, all still subconsciously moved aside. Afterwards, Jing Wan successfully occupied the most optimal position on the male side. Seeing Luo Jing Bo do this, the Luo family’s other young misses were also brought over one by one, done very rightfully so, without the slightest guilt nor embarrassment.

“If you’re a man go to the back.” Luo Jing Bo somewhat jokingly said.

“Jing Bo, you’re really unfair like this. You can’t for the sake of trying to appease your younger sister, just disregard the sentiments between brothers.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“……..”

The others also began jeering too, though they all didn’t have malicious intentions.

Luo Jing Bo smirked, “The ones marching in the parade are all grown men. This is just letting the young ladies see something fresh and new, that’s all. What, you all even want to throw some fragrant pouches or handkerchiefs and such down too?”

Once these words came out, it made quite a few all get goosebumps. Even if they had the intention to join in on the excitement, they no longer dared to go look now, successively ‘cursing’ Luo Jing Bo. Have to say, towards these brothers that he frequently played together with, Luo Jing Bo had nothing to be polite about. Teasing jokes and angry curses were all common occurrences. One has to know, at present, even when facing his grandfather, Luo Pei Shan, he all wasn’t as short of breath as when facing his own younger sister. In places with his younger sister present, he needed to have her well protected and taken care. Everything else all can moved to the side.

Jing Wan laughed with her mouth covered. This temper of her older brother’s really was very carefree and optimistic, not bothering over trivial things, and refreshing, not having that many crooked thoughts. When one stays with him for a long time, one will probably just feel content and refreshed. But, don’t assume that he’s just especially simple-minded, and doesn’t know the affairs of the world, because of this either. In reality, with a grandfather like Luo Pei Shan constantly instructing them, the brothers of the Luo family when serious, not a single one was a gentle sprout.

Since a bunch of young masters and gentlemen were all shooed to the back, the young ladies in the front didn’t need to be too crowded either.

“Look, they’ve come, they’ve come.” To the side, a little miss excitedly shouted.

En, Jing Wan also saw, a tall and sturdy figure, carrying a large red flower made from red silk on their chest.

(T/N: This silk flower thingy.)

The Top Scorer that was positioned in the middle appeared to be thirty some years old. His facial features were the very upright kind, with a 国-shaped face. The saying ‘one’s features comes from the heart’ wasn’t completely unreasonable. The feeling this person gave off, at the very least, was that sort of upright and honest gentleman. The Eyes of Notice next to him also appears to be around thirty years old. Furthermore, Jing Wan faintly saw from him the shadow of Cabinet Minister Jiang, this was someone from the Jiang family? Naturally, the Flower Snatcher to the right didn’t need to be mentioned. The handkerchiefs, fragrant pouches, and even some flower sprigs, continuously poured over.

For Chen Zheng Min to be able to appear, Jing Wan wasn’t surprised in the least, and the people of the Luo family all weren’t surprised either.

“Luo third miss must have specially come to see the Flower Snatcher.” A young miss to the side pretended to tease.

[1] If you know anything about modern day college exams in China (or other asian countries like Japan and Korea), you’ll know that it’s super competitive and very difficult. That’s why in China it’s still being compared to the imperial exam of ancient times, and people who pass the exams are also called ‘zhuang yuan’ (top scorer aka the title for the first place candidate of the imperial exam.) Nowadays there’s various uses for this term to mean slightly different things in varying context.